Traditional warfare, with accepted rules of engagement, appears to have given way to unconventional, asymmetrical warfare. One asymmetric threat that is proving difficult to counter and defeat is the improvised explosive devise (TED), commonly known as the “roadside bomb.” Today, IEDs are the major cause of combat casualties. They are the most effective way to cause the most harm at the least cost and are also often augmented with conventional mines on routes and soft shoulders that are vulnerable to surface-laid and dug-in anti-vehicle and antipersonnel mines.
In the past, IEDs were typically laid at night, often in craters left by previously detonated IEDs, and used a myriad of triggering techniques: cell phones or pagers, garage door openers, pressure plates or strips, etc. Today, this is no longer the case. Hand triggered IEDs are laid at all hours of the day in order to provide the triggerman with ample illumination for target acquisition and ordnance detonation. To be effective, IED detection technologies and strategies must allow for day/night and low visibility operations.